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There are many things in this life that Christians must encounter in their walk with Jesus. All of them are either handholds or hindrances to faith. That is to say, all of them will either cause us to look to Jesus for help, guidance, reassurance, strength, courage, and a host of other needs that come from living in the midst of untenable circumstances or they will cause doubt, fear, frustration, antipathy, anger, resentment and many other excuses why we can’t go forward with Christ. The choice is ours. We have the opportunity to stay faithful or to abandon faith.

There are some roadblocks to faith that are common to every person who strives to follow Christ. From Matthew 14:22-33 we read the story of Jesus and Peter walking on the water. However, in the midst of this story are clear examples of real roadblocks and the means by which we can overcome.

Roadblock #1 – A Faulty View of Jesus

While the disciples fought through the night against the buffeting winds as they tried to cross the sea, they looked and noticed a figure upon the water. “During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. ‘It’s a ghost,’ they said, and cried out in fear” (Matthew 14:25-26).

Understandably, they were in the midst of a storm and no one, ever, had walked upon water up to this point! What else were they to think? But to use this as the first example, I want to point out that there are many people in the midst of storms who only see Jesus as some apparition – a ghost like companion who has no power to do much more than walk past and observe. With a faulty view of Jesus we descend into a failed faith.

I wonder what would have happened in the boat if there was one person who, before Jesus mentioned anything, would have said, “Oh, wait! That’s Jesus! We’re going to be just fine.” Jesus, Himself, asks the question: “Who do you say that I am?” (from Matthew 16:15). This is critical—and the most important reality—to have a correct view of Jesus, a view built from His own revelation of Himself.

Solution to Roadblock #1 – A Correct View of Jesus

What did Jesus do? He cried out: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid” (v. 27). It’s not a ghost; it’s not an apparition; it is the Lord Jesus Christ who walks upon the water. It is impossible to have a view of Jesus that lends itself to accurate faith if that view is only built upon the foolish and failed understanding of human reason.

There is only one place to gain a correct view of Jesus Christ and that is the Word of God. Yet, how many Christians place their faith in their own understanding? Do not trust anyone’s thoughts of Jesus Christ who does not draw their understanding from the Word of God—including your own.

Roadblock #2 – A Fearful View of Circumstances

After they understood it was Jesus on the water, and Peter stepped out of the boat at the Lord’s command, Peter looked around at where he was. “Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’” (Matthew 14:29-30).

Again, it’s understandable that Peter would be disquieted by the fact that he was walking upon the water. Who wouldn’t be! But, as the nature of all endeavors that require faith in Jesus Christ, the moment he took his eyes off of the Savior and placed them upon the environment around him, he became afraid and began to sink.

Isn’t that the way most of us go? The life that God has called us to live is not measured by our own skills and expertise, but by the requirements of faith—a faith that rests upon the power and person of Christ Jesus. He does not call us because we are already built for such-and-such a task. Peter was a fisherman, aware of the water and knew how to swim. He did not have the means of his own to walk upon the water! What God is looking for are those who are willing to step out of the boat of personal comfort and security and trust Him by faith in obedience to His commands.

Solution to Roadblock #2 – A Confident Reliance on Jesus

As Peter began sinking into the depths of the sea, his only recourse was to cry out to the one who was still walking on the water. It might seem a bit obvious, but there were other options. He could have tried to rely on his own strength and swim back to the boat. He could have begged for help from the others in the boat. He could have just let himself drown in despair, perhaps even blaming Jesus for calling him onto the water in the first place. He didn’t do any of those things – he simply cried out to the only One who could save him.

Even in the midst of the most difficult circumstances, when God calls you to the impossible, you can have absolute confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. All of us have found ourselves called by God to the impossible, and many of us have tried to do what God has given us in our own strength and wisdom. Then, when the way is rough, the storms are strong and the winds are against us, we tend to turn to human ingenuity to stay above the circumstances. For example, God has called us to evangelize the world through the preaching of the gospel and discipling believers. When the way gets rough and people don’t respond – even becoming hostile – we change tactics. We turn to clever schemes and worldly strategies to do God’s work. Instead, we must simply cry out to Jesus and walk with Him as He holds us up above water.

These two roadblocks are common to everyone. You’re not alone. But the solutions are simple if you’re willing to take them to heart. Walking in faith with Christ Jesus means you must know Him as He has revealed Himself and you will have to trust Him and His word, even when the circumstances around you demand that you abandon all hope.

The other day my son was set upon to do some laundry. A load of bath towels to be exact. Because of an accidental overflow of some bathroom equipment there was a needed clean up and afterward the towels were in a desperate state. My wife spoke up as he was navigating his way to the laundry room: “Make sure you add bleach to the wash.” Certainly a wise precaution for the situation.

Well, off he went and began the load. “Did you add the bleach?” inquired my bride? His answer was in the affirmative and so nothing more was thought of concerning the towels. That is, until I removed them from the dryer to fold them and put them away. By now, most of you reading this have already assumed what happened, and you would be right. The towels were clean, dry, and… spotted with bleach stains. He willingly followed his mom’s command to add the bleach. However, he never followed the directions into the proper application of that bleach.

Why do I tell you this? Because I believe that it is possible to apply the right tools in the wrong way.

I believe there is a “bleach” principle that we, as Christians, must take to heart. I have heard, and perhaps you have too, that to overcome the overflow of sin in our lives we need to read the Bible more, we need to pray more, get more involved in church and so on. But how? Well-meaning Christians give commands with no direction to their proper application. So, then, the struggling sinner is left to figure out how to apply the command without any instruction. What comes out is a mottled and distorted saint who has nothing more than bleach stains upon their life rather than a process of cleansing and growth that will purify and mature their lives.

Someone comes to you with a desperate problem and your response is, “You should pray about it.” Okay, how? The disciples asked Jesus, “Teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). Maybe you were set upon by a stumbling sinner and your response was, “Just obey the Bible.” But how? Paul reminded Timothy of his own approach, “You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings… But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it” (2 Timothy 3:10-14).

We leave people in the dark about the proper application of God’s word, expecting that they will intrinsically know what to do. I’m teaching my daughter how to drive. I do not, however, just hand her the keys and say, “Go for it!” We cannot simply hand someone the Scriptures and say, “Figure it out.” Let us walk with and guide our fellow believers on the road of faith so that they can learn to walk with Christ.

Or, as Paul said to the Colossians, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me” (Colossians 1:28-29).

There is a sense in which the perfection of Jesus is simply assumed. Hebrews 4:15 says, "We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who is in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." There is a reason for it...

To help you understand the nature of why Jesus needed to be sinless, perfect in all His ways, I want to take you into a courtroom. Imagine for a moment that you are guilty of a crime - a capital crime - and your life is now subject to the full extent of the law. The judge hands down the sentence and you are going to be led away to your final end. Then... one steps up and declares that he will take your place!

But what if that person was guilty of the same crime? There is no way he could take your place for he, himself, must be punished for his own crime. He could never be your substitute and bear your punishment for he must endure his own.

Do you see? Every person on the planet is guilty before God of a crime called sin. The ONLY person who could ever take their place, be the substitution for all mankind, is someone who is perfect. If Jesus had been guilty of any sin He could never be the propitiation for such sin for He must then be punished for His own. But Jesus IS perfect in all His ways, He is without sin and can be the sacrifice for anyone... anyone who believes.

Israel, in their war against the Philistines, suffered a great loss at the hands of their enemy. What was their solution? Bring out the ARK! Yes, that's it... the Ark of the Covenant of God remained behind in Shiloh and was brought up to the battlefield in order to defeat the Philistines.

However, there was just one problem (okay... there were many problems, but this one in particular), the Ark of God was not a talisman to be used as a means of some "magical" support from God. Here's what it said in 1 Samuel 4:3, "Why did the LORD bring defeat upon us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the Ark of the LORD's Covenant from Shiloh, so that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies."

So that "IT" may save us? Really? It? Not "So that God may save us?" No, not that, we just need the Ark, we just need the talisman, we just need to look the part and then it all will happen automatically! What comes next is devastating. If they thought the battle had gone bad before, now it goes horrendously wrong.

But, my friends, don't we do the same today? Don't we simply bring out the functions of worship and the perfunctory expressions of devotion to God without any desire to seek the LORD? How many churches are missing the power of God in their great battles? How far down has our society declined in morality and virtue and the church seems powerless to change it? When was the last time someone said they had a great experience in the worship service and what they meant was a deep conviction of sin and a desperate desire to bring their lives into conformity with God and His word?

So, what do we do? We ramp up the volume and sing songs that drive the emotions so that people will have a great experience in church. We hype up the VBS and the children's programs so that it's more exciting for the kiddos and preach sermons that are more agreeable to the masses.We “bring out the ARK” and hide behind the talisman of religious expressionism, behind the bouncy-houses and baubles, the trinkets and tricks, and never truly seek the face of God. Let's face it - the prayer meeting is dull compared to the great performances happening on many Sunday mornings! But the power of God may just be found waiting for us in the prayer meeting.

While our sermons are preached and music is sung our communities fall prey to the steady encroachment of the enemy. Instead of the simple Gospel of Jesus Christ being the power of God for the salvation of all who believe (Romans 1:16) we now must make sure we are seen as "culturally relevant" despite the fact that the culture is lost and without hope in a wicked and depraved world. Evangelism becomes more about demographic research and market analysis rather than the proclamation and presentation of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Even as Spurgeon said, “That very church which the world likes best is sure to be that which God abhors the most.”

Isn't it time that we begin to ask: "What does GOD want us to do?" Are we prepared to become so completely consecrated to the Lord Jesus that the very steps we take are ordered by the LORD?

There is an answer - and it took Israel 20 years to get to it.1 Samuel 7:2-4 speaks to this turn-around. In verse 3 we read, "And Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, 'If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the LORD and serve Him only, and He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.'"

The continual strengthening of the enemies of God in our culture and our communities comes from the willingness of God's people to put aside God's ways for worldly methods. But think about it this way: If imitation is the highest form of flattery, how long will churches across our land continue to flatter the world? We imitate the culture when we need to influence it. We entertain when we must entreat. We participate in programs and plans that have no touch of the direction of God because that's what we always do - we bring out the Ark - and hope that somehow God will be motivated to respond to our expectations.

The solution has already been given above. Return to the LORD with all your hearts and divest ourselves of all worldliness and religiosity that has no mark of the direction of God. I hope and pray it will not take another 20 years for us to get there.